Nothing saved the day

Finance minister's attempt for an amicable solution with Grameenphone, the central bank's effort to loosen the money market through Advance-Deposit Ratio (ADR) requirement or analysis of stock market's gradual undervaluation — every move to fix falling stocks faltered.  

The broad indices both at the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) continued to bleed for the fourth consecutive week and settled at a 34-month low on Thursday.

Experts linked the ongoing bleeding in the market with the lack of investors' confidence.

DSEX, the broad index at the capital city bourse, has fallen 0.65 percent to close at 4855 — the lowest since December 12, 2016.

The index has lost 9.8 percent this year and it is a 19 percent fall from the interim market top at near 6000 mark in January this year.  

Grameenphone at the circuit breaker did not help  

Grameenphone, the talk of the street, is now enjoying the relief as the finance minister on Wednesday declared to solve its huge unpaid audit claim issue amicably within three weeks.

The largest company of local bourses in terms of market cap had seen no seller in most of the session following the government's positive attitude.

Circuit breaker system at the stock exchanges does not allow any stock to gain or lose more than the fixed 7-10 percent range for the market stability.

And if sellers tend to wait for more price during an upward movement trading at the top of circuit breaker, trading gets halted due to lack of supply.

The Grameenphone's share price on Thursday increased by 8.72 percent that would have added around 15 points to the DSEX, but extreme sale pressure in other large cap stocks did not let it happen, said market analysts.

Turnover leaders of the day had been in the red territory and 269 of DSE's listed securities lost prices against gains of 46 while prices of 38 remained unchanged.

Only telecom and life insurance were in green territory

Sectoral data reveal only telecom and life insurance have gained market capital in the sellers' day. Among the losers, jute, ceramic, IT, textile, engineering, tannery sector lost over 2 percent in market capital.

Paper and printing, pharmaceuticals, fuel and power, miscellaneous, general insurance, service and real estate sector lost over 1 percent in their market capital.

The turnover at the DSE rose 3.61 percent to reach Tk385 crore. Blue-chip index at the DSE managed not to lose points.

Grameenphone with its huge jump offset the fall of other large capital stocks that helped DS 30, the blue-chip index at the DSE not to lose points at the end. The index was unchanged with a green shed at 1735 points.

On the other hand, all the indices lost points at the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE). The broad index CSCX was the major loser that closed at 8960 with a 0.59 percent fall.

Weekly market scenario

The DSEX lost 1.6 percent over the week while the DS 30 managed to limit the fall within 0.1 percent with the help of Grameenphone.

Over the week the jute sector lost 9.37 percent of its market capital followed by ceramic 7.94 percent, IT 5.91 percent, pharmaceuticals 4.91 percent, textile 4.88 percent, engineering and miscellaneous losing over 3 percent in market capital.

On the flip side, telecom was the top gainer due to the ongoing upward pullback after a significant fall. Telecom sector gained over 9 percent over the week followed by life insurance gaining over 8 percent and general insurance over 6 percent.

Besides, only the banking sector was found in green territory with a 0.19 percent gain.